iPlayer PIT

The BBC, already fairly miffed that Ofcom thinks it necessary, has hit them with a 94-page plus annexes submission on putting more stuff on iPLayer for longer. Basically, most programmes would be there for a year (five years for programmes made for under 16s) and there'd be box set releases to accompany new returning series, plus more fun from the archive.

Some of the key arguments:

In 2014, our share of VOD viewing was over 40%, reflecting how ground breaking and successful BBC iPlayer was when it was first launched. If we do not adapt quickly to respond to audiences’ new expectations, we expect our share of VOD viewing to continue to decline over the next five years, from around 15% today, to around 12% by 2024. 

The modelling carried out by Communications Chambers estimates that our proposals will increase the reach of BBC iPlayer to 13.6% (an increase of 11.5% compared to the counterfactual, i.e. what would happen if we did nothing). The proposals will also increase time spent with BBC iPlayer by 29.5% compared to the counterfactual. 

Frontier Economics’ report finds that the proposals may result in a small decrease in viewing for
some of our competitors – potentially up to a 3.4% loss in viewing for other broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) services – when compared to what would happen if we do nothing. This could in turn have a very small impact on the profitability of these competitors’ services, but not at a level which risks crowding out competition or has a significant adverse impact on the market. 

Ofcom are likely to take until August to come to a conclusion, whereas the sensible thing would just be to say yes at the end of next week....